Father, Son Reel In 330-Pound Bluefin Tuna Off Manasquan Inlet

MANASQUAN, NJ — It was a Father's Day weekend to remember for Bridgewater father and son Joe and Christian Hudak.

The pair, who are avid fishermen, headed down to Manasquan with a few friends, Jeff VanLiew, Melissa VanLiew and Jeff Olen, on Hudak's boat called "Back Pay" — named after his profession as a chiropractor. Hudak owns Hudak Chiropractic Wellness Center in Edison.

They set sail on Saturday, June 16 going about four or five hours out to sea out of the Manasquan Inlet to an area where their satellite imagery noted a patch of water that would be good for fishing.

They caught five yellowfin tuna fish right away and then decided to go a little deeper out.
"When our reel went off, I knew we had a big fish," Hudak said.

But Hudak didn't realize that is was a giant, trophy-sized blue fin tuna.

Hudak and the others wrestled with the reel for over an hour and it took three people to pull the bluefin tuna on board the boat.

"We started to pull the tuna through the door and thought we would take a 'heave ho' and a couple steps back to get it on the boat, and when we did it was not even half of the fish in the boat yet," Hudak said. "It was really deceptive looking."

"We thought it was big but didn't know it was that big," Christian Hudak, who is going into sixth grade at Hillside School said. "We were really shocked."

The fish came in at 330 pounds and 82 inches long.

The second biggest fish Christian had caught prior to this was a 150-pound shark that was 6 feet long.
Christian is still talking about the fish to this day. Hudak noted Christian is so into fishing he quit playing baseball and soccer to be able to fish more often.

"He enjoys fishing in creeks in Bridgewater where he catches sunnies," Hudak said. "But he never though he would catch something twice his size and three times his weight."

When Hudak took the fish to the weigh-in station, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official asked if they could keep the fish for research. They just needed the brain, skull and spine to be able to tell what part of the world it came from.

Hudak needed a sawzall to be able to cut through the spine and filleted the fish filling three freezers. Hudak estimates the fish was valued at about $6,000. Since it is hard to sell, Hudak split the fish among the friends on board and enjoyed some that weekend.

"Being that it was Father's Day weekend, instead of serving steak we served tuna steak," Hudak said. "We will be eating tuna for months."

(Image via Joe Hudak: Joe Hudak, Christian Hudak, Jeff VanLiew, Melissa VanLiew and Jeff Olen.)

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